[Bug 1314759] Re: Issues with dual-booting Windows 8 and Ubuntu 14.04 on a Sony Vaio laptop

[Liviu Andronic]

Hmm, I experimented with this a bit more, and found something interesting. What about the following set of symptoms on the exact same machine with a _slightly_ tweaked BIOS configuration: 
- In BIOS, I set the Internal HDD as 1st in the boot priority
- The status-quo is the same: whenever I reboot either from Win8 or Ubuntu I end up booting Win8 by default (with no GRUB menu involved)

- Now I shutdown the laptop, plug an Xubuntu LiveUSB, hit the Assist button to enter in Maintenance mode, select F11 to boot from external USB device
- I get the GRUB menu of the LiveUSB, and then I 'reboot' from the GRUB console (and I remove the LiveUSB)
- Immediately afterwards I get the laptop's (/dev/sda) GRUB menu
- In GRUB I can select Ubuntu or Win8, and both load fine

Now this is the interesting part: 
- If I load Ubuntu from GRUB, then it loads Ubuntu
- On `reboot` from within Ubuntu, it still loads the GRUB menu where I can select Ubuntu (no more boot to Win8 by default)
- This is persistent as long as I keep rebooting to Ubuntu (!)
- `efibootmgr` reports the following: 
BootCurrent: 0001
Timeout: 5 seconds
BootOrder: 0001,0000,2001
Boot0000* Windows Boot Manager
Boot0001* Ubuntu
Boot2001* EFI USB Device

- However, if I choose just one single time Win8 from the GRUB menu, then on restart I once again keep booting by default to Win8 with no GRUB menu involved (the initial status-quo). 
- After booting Win8 and then rebooting to Ubuntu via the 'shift + restart' trick (see 1st post), then `efibootmgr` reports the following: 
BootCurrent: 0001
Timeout: 5 seconds
BootOrder: 0002,0001,2001
Boot0001* Ubuntu
Boot0002* Windows Boot Manager
Boot2001* EFI USB Device


The symptoms that I describe here are very similar to those reported in this SuperUser question: http://superuser.com/questions/587854/every-windows-8-boot-breaks-grub (concerning an Asus machine, though). 

Is this more evidence of trouble with the Sony Vaio firmware? Is it
possible that the firmware is writing to the EFI partition?

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1314759

Title:
  Issues with dual-booting Windows 8 and Ubuntu 14.04 on a Sony Vaio
  laptop

Status in “efibootmgr” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  I am currently trying to install Ubuntu 14.04 on a Sony Vaio that came
  pre-installed with Windows 8 in UEFI mode. And I am experiencing the
  dual-boot hell. I already tried most of the suggestions in the
  exhaustive "Installing Ubuntu on a Pre-Installed Windows 8 (64-bit)
  System (UEFI Supported)"  ( http://askubuntu.com/questions/221835
  /installing-ubuntu-on-a-pre-installed-windows-8-64-bit-system-uefi-
  supported ) guide as well as "Ubuntu installations when using UEFI" (
  https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI ), but I still experience
  issues.

  These are the steps that I already did:
  1.    Use a 64-bit 14.04
  2.    In the BIOS I could NOT find nor disable QuickBoot/FastBoot and Intel Smart Response Technology (SRT). But I did disable FastStartup in Windows 8.
  3.    In BIOS I disabled SecureBoot.
  4.    I installed 14.04 in UEFI mode (the /etc/fstab contains the UEFI partition) by using manual partitioning on the GPT hard-drive. I reduced the size of the Windows 8 partition from within Windows 8, as recommended.
  5.    After the installation I noticed dual-booting issues, so attempted to use boot-repair (following this guide). But it only ended in an error and didn't fix much.

  Issue:
  Windows 8 always boots fine. When somehow I manage to get to the grub screen then choosing Ubuntu or Windows 8 will result in either OS booting just fine. So dual-booting sort of works. However, most of the times the Vaio will simply boot to Windows 8 after a shutdown or restart.

  To get to the grub screen reliably, I am currently using the following ugly workaround: 
  1. While holding the SHIFT key, I click on Restart within Windows-8
  2. When the menu below appears, I select 'Use a device'
  3. Then I select Ubuntu
  4. Afterwards the GRUB menu appears and I can boot Ubuntu. For this to work I had to enable External Device Boot in BIOS and set in the Boot priority that the External Device (1) should be before the Internal HDD (2). 

  I was instructed to report this issue as a bug against `shim`, and to mention in the report specifically that I: 
  + installed Ubuntu in UEFI mode 
  + left Secureboot enabled initially, but then disabled it when I couldn't boot Win8 from within GRUB
  + already ran Repair Boot with no luck
  + already left an empty unallocated space for Ubuntu (to install alongside Windows )

  See discussion on this issue at AskUbuntu: 
  http://askubuntu.com/questions/458413/how-to-fix-dual-booting-windows-8-and-ubuntu-14-04-on-a-sony-vaio

  Random thoughts: 
  It seems to me that at some point there is a firmware issue at play here with the Sony Vaio laptops: their `Assist` button feels
  very awkward. On the Vaio you need to shut down the laptop, then hit Assist to enter into "Maintenance" mode, and only then you can access the BIOS. Please let me know if any other details are needed by the developers.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
  Package: shim 0.4-0ubuntu4
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-24.46-generic 3.13.9
  Uname: Linux 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3
  Architecture: amd64
  CurrentDesktop: XFCE
  Date: Wed Apr 30 20:10:55 2014
  Dependencies:
   
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-04-27 (2 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140416.2)
  SourcePackage: shim
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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